Alwaght: A former US State Department official says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is shaping the future of the West Asian region.
Ray Takyeh a researcher on Iran-US relations in an article published on Friday refers to the background of IRGC noting that the sudden invasion of Iran by Iraq’s deposed dictator Saddam Hussein in 1980 gave rise to the power of IRGC.
Takyeh then points to the formation of Quds Force adding that this is a branch of the IRGC mandated with conducting military operations outside Iran.
The Ex-State Department researcher underlines that the Quds Force views the US as a spent power in the West Asia region.
Last may an IRGC warned that his forces would drown American warships should they pose the slightest territorial threat to the country.
“Wherever the Americans look in the Persian Gulf, they will see us,” Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the IRGC Navy, said.
“They know that if they commit the slightest mistake, we will drown their vessels in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, or the Sea of Oman,” he added.
In late January, the IRGC arrested 10 US Navy sailors after their boats reached three miles into the waters surrounding the Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
The IRGC placed the forces into Iranian custody, but released them after Americans apologized for the incident.
